Cohoes mayor delivers hopeful State of the City - VIDEO

COHOES - Development in the city has been strong in the past year and only continues to strengthen, said Mayor George E. Primeau in his first State of the City address.

"While we were surrounded by entrenchment and recession, Cohoes has experienced real growth," Primeau told a crowd of more than 50 in the City Council chambers.

The population of the Spindle City continues its upswing, said Primeau, bolstered by the continued expansion of residential complexes, which are transforming the former mill town into a bedroom community. He pointed to the groundbreaking of the third phase of the Harmony Mills apartment complex along North Mohawk Street, which will see Mills one and four renovated into 102 residential spaces. When completed, there will 428 units in the complex, a former cotton mill.

"At one time, Harmony Mills put Cohoes as the industrial capital of the world," Primeau said. "It will now put Cohoes back on the map."

The mayor also cited the construction of the 84-unit Cohoes City Lofts on Saratoga Street, and Eagle's Nest Creek, a 22-unit twin townhouse development located off James Street. Near the end of the year, construction is also expected to begin on the The Paddocks at Lexington Hills, a 408-unit luxury apartment complex to be located off Johnson Road near the intersection with Saint Agnes Highway.

New Cohoes residents will soon have the opportunity to use the Heritage Trail that, when completed, will link Cohoes Falls to the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Trail. The city is also continuing efforts to convert the Delaware and Hudson Rail Bridge, also known as the Black Bridge, into a bike and pedestrian bridge, linking to the Delaware Avenue Trail and the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail. When completed, this will make a continued stretch of trail from Peebles Island State Park and Waterford south to Albany.

In the city's downtown area, the downtown master plan has been capped by the completion of the Cohoes Boulevard Brownfield Opportunity Area study of 400 acres east and west of Route 787, which will help create investment in the area.

Just such investment has been seen in recent downtown growth, said Primeau, with the opening of a new computer repair shop, the reopening of Bread and Jam Cafe, the relocation of Holzman Antiques from Albany, and Kendrick Jewelers' move into a former bank building. A new auction house also opened recently, as did Columbia Mattress Outlet and Harmony House Marketplace.

Outside the business district, the mayor highlighted the Spendwood School of Dance and Gymnastics, which moved into the St. Agnes Lyceum at 50 Johnston Avenue.

"At one time we might have thought that building was going to be torn down," Primeau said. The school now enrolls 650 students from 430 families.

"Many (that attend) are from Cohoes, but many are from outside of Cohoes and when these families come in from outside of Cohoes it's promoting our city," said Primeau. "This is key to what has been happening in Cohoes. It's businesses like Spendwood."

And more recently, Ravens Head Brewing announced it will be moving into the Cohoes Armory, at 33 Hart St. between Main and Columbia streets. The brewery's owners turned towards Cohoes after facing opposition to their original plan to move into St. Joseph's Church in Albany.

"While we are eager to remain business friendly, we are of course always interested in attracting families," said Primeau. As part of the effort to bring families to Cohoes and downtown--especially along Main and Congress, where there are few owner-occupied buildings--the city's Local Development Corporation approved $60,000 for grants of up to $5,000 for new homeowners.

The city also saw greater participation in the recycling program after they combined paper and plastic, resulting in savings on tipping fees at the landfills and prompting the purchase of three new dumptrucks.

Lastly, Primeau covered the city's finances, doing so "not because it is the least important, but because it is the foundation." An increase in pension costs of more than $600,000 over the past five years has significantly cut into the city's budget, said Primeau. Only through planning and restrained spending has the city has been able to meet these "skyrocketing bills," and has done so without borrowing.

In 2001, the city's contribution to the pension system was around $600,000, now it is in the range of $1.8 million and rising. In a nod to his predecessor, John McDonald III, who was also in the room, Primeau said that he, as Council President, had worked with McDonald and others to keep the additional burden from falling on taxpayers. The result was property taxes that held at 0 percent for two of the past three years, Primeau said.

The sound fiscal decisions the city has made have allowed them to make investments in safety, such as cameras in the downtown business district, nine patrol cars -- four marked, and five unmarked -- and a new fire truck.

"In recent years it seems like we have nothing but doom and gloom at all levels of government, but in Cohoes, it really seems like we are in a better place," said Primeau. "I'm very excited about what could lie ahead."

Primeau took office at the beginning o the year following the election of his predecessor, John McDonald III, to the Assembly seat of retired Assemblyman Ron Canestrari.